Greater gender equality helps both women and men live longer

Date:
March 6, 2023
Source:
George Institute for Global Health
Summary:
The first global study to investigate how gender equality may be
associated with life expectancy has found that both women and men
live longer as it improves.


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FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The first global study to investigate how gender equality may be
associated with life expectancy has found that both women and men live
longer as it improves.


========================================================================== However, variations between countries grouped into regions according to socioeconomic development and geographic proximity suggest that while
mainly benefitting women's lives and health at first, progress in gender equality helps men to live longer too, eventually narrowing the gender
gap in life expectancy.

Lead author Dr Cat Pinho-Gomes, Honorary Research Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health, UK in partnership with Imperial College
London, said the results -- published in the lead up to International
Women's Day - - suggest that addressing longstanding gender inequality
and empowering women might help extend longevity for both women and men.

"Many of the factors that determine how long you will live -- like
working and living conditions, exposure to pollution, access to health
care, education, income, and social support -- are layered with gender differences around the world," she said.

"As countries make greater progress towards gender equality and women
are afforded the opportunity to participate more fully in in political, economic, and social life, the whole of society reaps the rewards."
According to the latest report by the World Economic Forum, global events
such as the rising cost of living, the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate
emergency and large-scale conflict and displacement are stalling progress towards gender parity. This may, in turn, jeopardise socioeconomic
development and improvement in living and working conditions, curbing
the gains in life expectancy that have occurred over the past decades.

To investigate whether gender equality was associated with life expectancy
(LE) for women and men and assess the gender gap in life expectancy
across the globe, the researchers used a modified global gender gap index (mGGGI), based on the index developed by the World Economic Forum (WEF),
and applied it across 156 countries between 2010 and 2021.

The WEF's Global Gender Gap Index benchmarks the current state and
evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions (Economic
Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and
Survival, and Political Empowerment). For this study, the health dimension
was excluded because it includes healthy life expectancy, which was the
subject of this study.

Among the three dimensions included in this study (i.e., political,
economic, and educational), gender equality in education had the strongest association with longer LE for both women and men.

"This suggests investing in education is paramount, particularly in low-
and middle-income countries, where many girls are still denied access
to education and resources are limited," added Dr Pinho-Gomes.

"Even high-income countries -- where substantial progress has been
made to address gender inequalities in recent years -- investing in
gender equality may still benefit life expectancy, particularly for
men. This study confirmed what we had already seen for countries in the
EU using a different index, reinforcing the validity of our findings."
"The weaker association between gender equality in the political domain
and the gender gap in LE raises concerns about how gender equality is
being implemented by political systems worldwide," she said.

"As we've seen from the recent resignations of high-profile female
politicians, women still experience significant challenges in this field, including discrimination, balancing private, family and political life,
gaining support from political parties, and securing campaign funding." Overall, in 2021, each ten percent increase in the mGGGI was associated
with a 4.3-month increase in women's LE and a 3.5-month increase in men's
LE, leading to an 8-month wider gender gap, but there was considerable variation between geographical regions.

"Our study has important implications for policy makers across the globe, particularly as the world gradually recovers from the myriad shocks
caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a gendered impact across
multiple domains of life," added Dr Pinho-Gomes.

"This International Women's Day, let's not forget that the evidence demonstrates that enhancing women's representation across multiple
sectors contributes to wealthier and, hence, healthier societies for all."
* RELATED_TOPICS
o Health_&_Medicine
# Menopause # Fitness # Women's_Health
o Mind_&_Brain
# Gender_Difference # Social_Psychology # Relationships
o Science_&_Society
# STEM_Education # Education_and_Employment #
Political_Science
* RELATED_TERMS
o Misogyny o Fertility o Longevity o Laughter o Estrogen o
Breast_cancer o Hair o Testosterone

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
George_Institute_for_Global_Health. Note: Content may be edited for
style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Ana-Catarina Pinho-Gomes, Sanne A. E. Peters, Mark Woodward. Gender
equality related to gender differences in life expectancy across
the globe gender equality and life expectancy. PLOS Global Public
Health, 2023; 3 (3): e0001214 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0001214 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/03/230306143509.htm

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